Tension in London
by LyraCarter
Summary: Set in the maurauders era, a few years after graduating from Hogwarts. Can James, Sirius and Lily all live in the same flat together without killing each other, especially when Sirius is developing feelings for his best friends girl? JamesLily, SiriusLily
1. Start of Madness

**Author's Note: **i wrote this story with my cousins, Kelsey and Tara, and my sister, Meg. It's our first try at writing fanfiction, so we hope you like it!

**Disclaimer: **We own nothing but the plot, and Adhara. Though I would love to keep Sirius for myself.

Sirius/Lily, James/Lily, Sirius/OC, Remus/OC, Sirius/Remus, mild slash warning.

**Tension in London**

Sirius moaned. He hated mornings. He hated mornings even more than the blossoming romance between his two best friends, Lily and James. Well, maybe not quite as much as that, but you got the picture. He tumbled out of bed, hitting the hard floor with a thunk to his sensitive skull. Moaning once more, he ran his fingers through his longish black hair and blinked away the sleep from his light gray eyes. Making sure he had boxers on at least he stumbled towards the kitchen where he could smell bacon. Why had he gotten out of bed this early? He couldn't remember. Then he walked into the kitchen and remembrance hit him full in the face. Lily was standing there in a dark green slip of a nightgown, red hair shining against the rich fabric, playful eyes following him across the room. She was beautiful, and Sirius wanted her.

"Where's James?" he mumbled, not really caring.

James and Sirius had moved in with Lily, pretending they had no one to cook and shop for them, but really because they were both homeless at the moment, a secret which Lily had yet to discover.

"He's upstairs, sleeping. I'm amazed you're up before him."

"Yes, well, bacon and beautiful girls, what more could I ask for?"

" Maybe some jeans or something." She glanced down at his black silk boxers and giggled. " Is everything you own black? "

"Now that you mention it, yes." He grabbed some bacon off the stove, yelping as she swatted his hand with the hot spatula.

"Save some of that for the pancakes, you hound!"

"Pancakes too? Lily, you're too good to me!"

"I know, but you only get some if you get dressed. Not that I mind having half naked men walking around my flat, but James will." Her eyes lingered on his muscular chest, built up from years of motorcycling and quiddich.

"Don't talk about me being naked, missy. Take a look at yourself! But, if you insist, my dear." he stomped off to his rather large room, grabbed a black muscle shirt and black jeans and made his black-silk-sheet-down-comforter bed. Gazing around his black and white room he muttered, "Well, I have to live up to my name, don't I?" and once more headed for the kitchen. He walked in just in time to see James and Lily pull apart from a passionate embrace. Suddenly he wasn't so hungry anymore. He slumped over

to the kitchen table and pulled a half dozen pancakes onto his plate.

"How can you eat all that and still stay in such great shape?" Lily asked jealously.

"Hey, you're not supposed to be noticing his shape in the first place!" James laughed. He looked very rumpled in his loose dark blue tee shirt and faded jeans. Sirius ignored them and magicked a beer into his hand.

" Sirius," Lily said warningly, "I told you no beer in my house until you're legal."

"Aww, come on Lil. It's only two more years! And I promise I'll drink responsibly!"

"Nope, nope, nope," Lily said stubbornly. Staring straight into her eyes, Sirius lifted the beer to his lips and chugged it. She shrieked in anger and knocked the can from his hand, which only succeeded in getting it all over her pretty nightgown.

"Now see what you did! Who's the irresponsible one now?" Sirius demanded. Lily lifted her eyes to his after parting her beer-soaked hair so she could actually see him. At the sight of her, all three of them burst out laughing.

"Okay, Okay, no more beer in the house, I promise." said Sirius at last. "Anyway," said James between laughing, "who drinks beer with breakfast? Besides you" he added after the look of mock horror Sirius gave him.

"Well," Lily said after a slight pause, "I'm gonna go shopping for food, when I'm done cleaning myself off, if either of you wish to accompany me. I have to go once a day with you two in the house." At this statement James ducked under the table to "tie his shoes" and Sirius launched himself into the bathroom.

"I have no idea why," replied James when he reemerged, helping himself to the rest of the pancakes. He absentmindedly reached for some bacon, but discovered that it had been cleaned away by Sirius' humongous appetite.

"Hey!" he exclaimed, scowling across the table. Sirius grinned through a mouthful of food.

"Eww!" groaned Lily on her way out of the kitchen.

"You have something in your teeth," she added.

"I'm going to go get ready for work," Sirius mumbled through his mouthful of bacon.

"Make sure you brush your teeth"

"Har-de-har, James, veeery funny."

"I try."

"Try harder." With that, Sirius stomped off to his black bedroom to get ready for the day.

Twenty minutes later, He appeared in the living room where James was sprawled watching TV. Sirius was freshly showered, clothed in his black best, ready for another long day as an Auror. James sniffed the air.

"I smell a dainty rose... Oh! Its only Sirius!"

"Watch it, you lazy fiend!"

"Hey! I work just as hard as you!"

"James, sorry to break it to you, but playing one quiddich game every month hardly qualifies as hard work." James had been accepted to the London quiddich team just after high school, ending his money worries, making him a hero in Lily's pretty eyes, and earning him the nickname, James Potter, International Qidditch Star. Sirius, on the other hand, hated teamwork and set schedules, and opted for the less glamourous, more dangerous lifestyle of an Auror Hit Wizard. He loved his job, loved the thrill of a long chase, loved dealing justice to Voldemort's crew. He had mastered the Adavra Kedavra curse at eighteen and had used it more than 200 times since, and though he couldn't bring himself to tell Lily how many lives he had taken (though for a good cause; every one of the 200 people he had killed had murdered at least fifty innocent wizards), he had told James, who supported him fully.

"So who's the bad guy today?" James asked.

"Classified. Sorry."

"Suuure ..you just like the way it sounds when you say that, all official and stuff."

"True, but it really is. Good luck at the game today, by the way. Lily and I'll be there around three. Who're you playing?"

"Scotland, be careful today."

"Always. Ok, I'll see you at the game." He took off for the garage and his prized flying motorcycle.

Just then the telephone rang.

"I'll get it," said Lily as she emerged from the bathroom with only a towel around her. James glanced up and grinned as she picked up the phone. He listened in and from the half of the conversation he could hear he guessed that it was Adhara Black, Sirius' twin sister who lived only ten minutes away.

Five minutes later Lily had hung up the phone.

"Adhara is coming over if you don't mind, apparently her date last night didn't go too well and she wants to talk about it."

James groaned, not because he had anything against Adhara but because he had been looking forward to some time alone with Lily.

"Well," he said, quickly composing himself, "My shoulder is always ready for her to cry on if she needs it."

Lily gave him a look that said quite plainly "If Adhara even TRIES to put her head on your shoulder, then I'll use that Adavra Kedavra curse that Sirius is always talking about on her!" It was well known that Adhara had a soft spot in her heart for her brother's best friend.

"Anyway," she said, "Adhara doesn't want to talk in front of you so why don't you go and.. and .. well, do whatever you do when you're not working!"

"Fine," said James "I can tell when I'm not wanted." He looked sadly at Lily and started to slowly walk away. "I'll just go get a shower and leave."

" James, I'm sorry, please stop, oooh you and those puppy eyes." She ran and threw her arms around him. James smiled and wrapped his hands around her thin waist. He was just about to kiss her when the "ding dong" of the front door caused them to break apart.

"Crap," said Lily " I have to change." she had forgotten that she still had only a towel on. She

grabbed her wand and in a flash was standing fully dressed in a pair of tight dark blue jeans and a black silky tank-top.

"I guess that's my cue." said James as he headed for the bathroom. "I'm gonna go get a shower." Lily went to answer the door and found a tearstained Adhara. She was dressed in a low-cut green tee with a black miniskirt.

James got out of the shower to find Lily and Adhara sitting on the couch with tons of junk food in between them. They were both crying and for a minute James didn't know what was wrong. He was wondering if he should go and try to comfort them when he glanced at the T.V. and noticed that Gone with the Wind was playing. He cleared his throat impatiently, and they looked up.

"Oh, hi James," said Lily in between sobs. Adhara flipped her long shiny black hair and then noticed that he was wearing his quiddich robes.

" Big game today?"

"Yup." He replied, looking at Lily who was watching the T.V while chewing on a chocolate frog still in its wrapper.

"I'll be rooting for you," whispered Adhara, still vainly trying to get his attention.

"Thanks... Well, I have to get going, we want to go over some last-minute tactics before the game." With a casual wave of his hand, he apperated.

Half an hour later the movie was over and the girls had gone shopping, gotten ready for the game, and discussed how cute James and Sirius were while they were sleeping about four times.

"We'd better get going or we won't get to hear when they announce James' name, which is the best part... besides when he wins."

The girls apperated to the huge field where thousands of diehard fans had come to cheer for their favorite players. In the distance there were hundreds of signs being held up by cheering people

"Oooh, look!" exclaimed Adhara, "you have competition!" She pointed to a large sign that was flashing "Marry me, Potter."

"I have complete faith in him," she said. She hadn't even finished her sentence when Sirius popped up from the middle of nowhere. He promptly tackled her to the ground in greeting.

"Nice to see you, too," she said, her voice slightly muffled from Sirius' arm which was wrapped around her face.

He grinned. "Hey, Adhara."

"We'd better go and find our seats," Adhara pointed out, "I hear the announcements starting."

"Yeah," said Sirius, "I left Lupin with our seats and he's probably wondering where we are." He led them up to the best seats in the stadium, right in the front. Adhara smiled at Lupin, a tall cute boy with sandy brown hair and light eyes. He smiled back at all of them, grinning fondly at Sirius' antics.

Lily shook her head at the two of them but was soon preoccupied as the game began. When James' name was announced she stood up and screamed along with the rest of her row. He was on the best broom that was available, a Shooting Star, which, in Lily's opinion, described him perfectly. It was his pride and joy, and it had cost him one years worth of odd jobs to cover the cost. He showed off with a loop-de-loop and continued to the appropriate starting position.

With a blow of the referee's whistle all fourteen players rose into the air and James was soon circling the field on the alert for a tiny speck of gold. After a half hour of play the score was seventy to 100

for Scotland. Lily was on the edge of her seat while Adhara and Lupin were otherwise occupied. Sirius was watching the two of them with a strange look on his face. After a few minutes he turned to face Lily.

"What?" she asked when she found his gaze directed at her.

"Nothing!" he said as he smiled, "but you're funny to watch at a match, you jump a lot."

"Yes, well, I'm worried about James," she replied "I don't like the careless way he flies. He'll end up getting hurt!"

"Don't worry about him," he said and gave Lily a comforting hug just as James flew by. He saw Sirius and scowled. Sirius broke away and went to go and get food.

"I'm starving," he said as he made his way down the aisle. He returned a few minutes later carrying a twelve pack and three large cheese pizzas. As if this wasn't enough he had bought a half-gallon of chocolate chip ice cream which he had used magic to keep frozen.

He gave a pizza to Adhara and Lupin and he and Lily shared the last two. He then started to eat the whole thing of ice cream by himself while settling back to enjoy the rest of the game.

Not even two minutes later Scotland's seeker shot into a dive, but not without James right on his tail.

The whole audience was on their feet as the seekers headed for the ground. Lily hid her face in Sirius's black shirt and told him to tell her when it was over. She didn't have long to wait, James slowly rose in the air with his fist held up victoriously, tightly clamped around the snitch, to the cheers of London's fans. The extra points had won it for them.

Lily, Sirius, Adhara, and Lupin headed for the team's changing room where they found a half-naked James being congratulated by the rest of his team. They made their way over to him and Lily hugged him as hard as she could. Sirius grinned at him through a mouthful of ice cream.

"Great game!" he laughed.

" Yeah!" replied James " And by the way, thanks for watching out for Lily for me." at this statement he threw himself at Sirius and tackled him to the ground. Sirius quickly gained the upper hand.

"All right, all right!" James said with a grin "I'm exhausted, so I'll let you win. On one condition," he added, "you let me have some of that ice cream."

"Get your own, lazy man," said Sirius, "I'll meet you back at the house." With that, he apperated.

"Yeah, I'm ready to go home too," exclaimed James as he vanished with a pop. The rest followed suit.

Back at the house Sirius had demolished the rest of the ice cream to James's dismay.

"Don't worry" said Lily, "There's more in the fridge. I just went shopping, remember?"

"That'll be gone in a minute, just let me hop in the shower."

Lupin and Adhara had been quietly conversing in the corner and then excused themselves saying that they were on their way out to dinner. Lily ginned and told them to have a good time, and Sirius watched them leave silently.

"Well," said Sirius at last, "I'd better go and get ready too."

"Where are you going?" asked Lily with a smile.

"Don't think that Lupin is the only one who can get a date." Sirius smirked. This thought had never crossed Lily's mind. Sirius was known far and wide as the biggest catch there was.

"Whom are you going with?" Lily asked curiously.

"Pamela," he responded promptly.

"Do I know her?" Lily inquired, "What's her last name?" At this question Sirius turned red and mumbled something unintelligible.

"Sirius," Lily said, "Are you telling me that you're going on a date with a girl who's name you don't even know?"

Sirius grinned, "I do know her name, it's Pamela. And I have got to go or I'm going to be late." He walked out of the door and a few seconds later Lily heard the sound of his motorcycle taking off. She sighed.

"What's wrong?" James asked as he appeared in the entrance of the kitchen.

"Nothing..." replied Lily. She smiled at his face as he yawned.

"I think I'm going to go watch some T.V. and relax," James said. "You're welcome to join me." He walked into the parlor and Lily followed him. They were finally alone and together at last.

It was close to midnight when Sirius came home. He strode in to find Lily and James asleep on the couch with the T.V. on. Lily's head was resting on James' shoulder. Her mouth was open and James was snoring lightly. Sirius turned off the T.V. with a wave of his hand, and headed off to his black bedroom. He kicked off his black shoes, pulled off his black muscle shirt and fell into bed, dreaming of Lily, and strange amber eyes.

The next morning, he awoke to find James standing over him, tickling his feet. Pretending to still be asleep, he waited till James was off guard and kicked out hard.

"OOOOW, you big meanie!"

"Big meanie? You're the one who woke me up at 9 in the morning," Sirius moaned as he peered at the clock through sleep-ridden eyes. James laughed and proceeded to pull the blankets off of his bed, prompting Sirius to moan something about cruel and unusual punishment into his pillow. Just then James chuckled and held up a red, sparkly pair of women's underwear he had discovered among the sheets,

"OOOooo, look what I found! Lets go show LILY!" and he scampered out of the room, holding his find before him. This effectively made Sirius get out of bed faster than he ever had. But he was too late, James had already shown her. She laughed, though Sirius thought it sounded a little forced.

"Better put these with the collection," she said as she reached into the closet for a cardboard box, filled with panties of all colors and sizes.

"Flipping hell," James mumbled as he stared into the box, "there are more panties here than I've ever seen in my life!" Lily chuckled and poked him in the ribs.

"Leave Sirius and his girls alone. You may not be as popular with the ladies as he is but I still love you."

"She's right, you know," Sirius mumbled as he left the room, "You've ended up with the best girl of all."

Sirius shlumped off to work. He had three bad guys to catch and "dispose of" as he supposed he could take his anger out on them. He stumbled into the office much earlier than his usual 1' o'clock, provoking some stares from people who worked the morning shift and had never seen him before. He dropped into Cindy's office on his way to the free coffee and donuts.

"What've we got today?" he mumbled as he dropped into the huge red chair across from her desk.

"Password?" she sniffed. Cindy was always one for following the rules.

"Dia de los Muertos."

"Very good, Ok, today we've got Misters Barton, Shlemmer, and Diablos, all in London, we've no idea where in London, but that's your job. Bring in Schlemmer for questioning and dispose of the other two. Watch out for Diablos, very nasty man, one of Voldemort's finest. See you at six!"

"What's at six?"

"Staff meeting."

"Have I ever gone to one of those?"

"No."

"Then I'd better not start now." He grabbed the folders on the three men and shuffled off to resume his search for donuts.

An hour and three donuts later, he had finally located the whereabouts of Schlemmer and Barton using his state of the art, high tech, magical tracer. He decided to apprehend Schlemmer first so he grabbed his motorcycle and took off for the Snake Eyes bar in downtown, seedy River Edge, London. Owned by two disgusting old hags, the place had a reputation for cheap drinks, cheap food and cheap women. He edged inside towards the bar where he spotted an old friend from high school, Missy Jakeson. After reminding her of who he was, (which took a while since she was quite drunk) he grilled her on the whereabouts of Schlemmer.

"Oh, him. Yep that's him riiight therre," she slurred, pointing to a shabby looking wizard who was belting out a Britney Spears hit at the Karaoke machine. Sirius moaned. All eyes were on Schlemmer, which made him twice as hard to grab. Looking around to make sure no one was looking he quickly morphed into the Grim. He trotted up to Schlemmer, grabbed the sleeve of his robe and tugged him off stage and into the street. Looking around once more, he morphed back into his handsome self and aimed his wand at the inebriated wizard. Immediately, thick ropes shot out of the wand and bound him tightly. Sirius grabbed the flabbergasted man's wrist and his motorcycle's handlebar and apperated back to the base.

"One down, two to go," the burly guard at the jail house said to Sirius as he deposited his catch.

"True, Ned, but you won't see the other two."

"And I don't want to. That Diablos is a bad one."

Sirius smirked. "Oh, believe me, I'm much worse."

An hour later Sirius had just killed his 201st person and had apperated the body back to Cindy's room where she would dispose of it properly. Only Diablos remained, and Sirius had just received a hot tip that he would be meeting someone at the base of the Thames river at 12 noon. He apperated there at 11:30, hoping to be able to find the perfect spot to hide before the others got there. At 12 noon exactly a short, frightened looking man showed up. He looked around nervously before leaning against a huge rock and waiting. Six minutes later, Diablos arrived. He was a tall, greasy, imposing man, with a hard, handsome face, and the coldest blue eyes Sirius had ever seen. Because of his placement, Sirius fond it hard to hear what they were saying, but the meeting consisted mostly of the taller man threatening the short one. After five minutes, the short man bowed and apperated.

Now was his only chance. Springing out from the bush where he had been hiding, he yelled, "Adavra Keda-.." He felt his body tingling, and then his world went black.


	2. Inevitable

**Disclaimer**:**We do not own this. So go and sue someone else.**

**A/N: This chapter goes out to Fanficluverr and Tigerwhisper, the only reviewers who aren't inour family. Thank you so much.**

**Warning: This story will contain SLASH. Man on man action. Got it?**

**Tension in London **

Around nine p.m. Lily and James started to get worried. Pamela had called around eight, wondering if Sirius was going to show up for their date, and had sounded surprised when they didn't know where he was.

"What should we do, James?"

"I'm sure he's fine, Lil. He's a big boy, he can take care of himself."

The next morning, he still hadn't shown up.

"Maybe you were right, Lily. Lets call Adhara and let her know and go over to his work, see if they know anything."

When they arrived at the Ministry of Magic, they were escorted into Cindy's room. She looked pale and withdrawn, which James thought was a bad sign.

"We're looking for our friend, Sirius Black," James said, "he's been missing since last night. We were just wondering if you had seen him or if you know where he is."

"I'm sorry," she sniffed, "but I'm afraid I can't help you. Sirius is an Unspeakable, and we are not allowed to disclose any information about any of his missions, or his location. In fact, if he does go missing, we destroy his dossier and deny any knowledge of him. If any of the work that the Unspeakables do gets out in the open, the whole wizarding world would be in an uproar, and our government would collapse. It's much better this way, believe me.

Lily's face was turning red with anger. James put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"Let me handle this, okay?" Lily took a deep breath and nodded in consent.

"Look," James said evenly, "I'm asking you nicely. I understand that you can't give us his exact location, but can you give us a clue to where he is?"

"I'm sorry," Cindy answered curtly "but rules are rules." James winked at Lily and together they pulled out their wands and directed the tips towards Cindy's head. James reached across the table and grabbed Cindy's wand before she could grab it.

"We did ask nicely," Lily reminded her at the sharp intake of breath that was omitted from her mouth.

"And now we're going to ask you again . . .. WHERE IS SIRIUS?" Cindy's eyes shifted slowly from Lillian's hard green ones to James' cold hazel. After a long pause she slowly rolled her chair over to a long panel of wall that was especially ugly, painted a foul green , and sporting a large portrait of the first Minister of Magic. Here she tapped lightly three times about two feet from the bottom in the center. The piece of swung away to reveal a series of buttons on which Cindy punched in a code. After a few seconds, the wall slowly sank silently into the floor to reveal a huge filing cabinet. She walked over to the draw labeled Aldin - Boulfren, and punched in another code. The draw swung open and she reached inside and withdrew a large folder and threw it on the desk.

"I always liked that kid," Cindy said softly " so make sure that you find him because this is gonna cost me my job, and its gonna cost him a date with me" she finished with a forced smile. Lily grabbed the folder, and she and James yelled their thanks as the bolted from the room. When they were outside, the paused to see what clues the folder held.

"Look," James said as he extracted the last piece of paper in the file. In what appeared to be a woman's handwriting was written "The base of the Thames River" With a quick glance around, Lily grabbed James' hand and apperated.

They apperated face to face with a man who looked like the devil himself. He snarled in surprise as he dropped the ropes he had been using to bind an unconscious Sirius, and quickly pulled out his wand. From seemingly out of nowhere, Two rough looking men jumped out of bushes where they had been keeping watch for intruders, and the battle was joined. Lily and James ducked and scampered, trying to avoid the flashes of red and green light flying around them while they raced to get to Sirius' side. James managed to stun the bigger of the two thugs and Lily dropped a large tree branch on the other's head while James raced to head off Diablos who was trying to make off on Sirius' motorcycle. Just then he heard a yell from behind him, but he didn't look back, he was too busy trying to get to the man who had tried to murder his best friend. But it was too late. Diablos had vanished; apperated with a clean "pop." James twisted around frantically; trying to make sure Sirius was all right, when he saw a slim redheaded figure on the ground. His stomach dropped out from under him; He had been too busy trying to act the hero, that he hadn't even noticed when the woman he loved was hurt. He rushed over to her, praying she wasn't dead. He didn't start breathing again until he noticed the slight rise and fall of her chest and her eyelids flutter. Sirius rushed over to them, having finally woken up and finding that Diablos hadn't had enough time to tie the ropes holding him tightly enough.

"Ennervate!" he mumbled under his breath and let out a huge sigh of relief when Lily pushed herself up into a sitting position.

"What..." She mumbled, "Sirius! Oh good, you're ok!"

But Sirius had a very strange look on his face. The thought of losing Lily from a stupid mistake on his part was filling him with self-hatred, and before he could stop himself, he was taking it out on her.

"Never. Do. That. Again. This is my deal, Lily Evans, and I can handle it just fine without you." And he apperated without a word of thanks.

The days that followed were awkward since Lily and Sirius were not on speaking terms. James tried to ignore their fights and acted as though nothing was wrong, which added a phony cheerfulness about the place. The fake happiness was suffocating and was almost enough to make Lily gag. Adhara visited frequently to comfort Lily and to distract her from her depression.

Sirius spent his days either at work or out with Pamela. Every time she called Lily would frown and try to find comfort in James strong arms. A few weeks later Lily found herself watching a rather boring movie when Sirius walked in. Looking up slowly she returned to the television, choosing to ignore him.

"Lily, look," Sirius started slowly.

" No, don't. I'm sorry, you were right. It was none of my business and I should have stayed out of it." Lily said, cutting his apology short.

" Yeah, well, I could have been nicer about it. You were just trying to help. I just didn't want to talk about it."

" Ok, it's completely gone from my mind, so will you forgive me?" Lily said with a small smile. This was the first smile she hadn't forced in weeks.

" Only if you forgive me for my attitude." Sirius said with an identical grin.

" I guess we are both forgiven." Lily said, her beautiful smile widening.

" Goody." Sirius said with a sly grin replacing his relieved smile.

" Sirius…" lily said sternly trying to look tough and hide her grin at the same time. The results were amusing. With a loud yell Sirius leaped unto the couch, wrestling Lily into a rather uncomfortable position. Lily screeched happily while trying to swat him with a pillow, and failed miserably. Both breathing heavily, they paused for a break, grinning idiotically at each other. Sirius gazed down at Lily, stroking her porcelain skin with a trembling hand. He brushed a strand of thick, red hair out of her eyes. Desire for her overwhelmed him and he leaned towards her with one thing on his mind. His eyes flew open when he realized she had moved towards him with the same purpose. It was a small, slight kiss, but the passion and heat behind it almost brought Lily to tears. She had never felt this before and the new feelings both scared and thrilled her. A banging on the door caused them to spring apart guiltily. Sirius leapt up from the couch, standing with his hands in his pockets. He blushed in shame as James walked in smiling. Looking at Sirius his grinned widened considerably. Lily stared at James. She knew she loved him but she was confused about the feelings she had for Sirius, he had always attracted the more rebellious side of her. The one she kept artfully hidden. James looked great in his fashionably baggy blue faded jeans, and tight fitting white t-shirt. He was gorgeous, and for a minute her worries about Sirius disappeared. James' voice woke her out of her dreamy state.

" OOO... Sirius, you're blushing like mad! What happened to you?" James asked, completely unaware of what his two friends had just experienced. Sirius mumbled something not completely understandable.

" Pamela just called." Lily said in a teasing voice, which was, obvious to Sirius, quite forced.

"OOOOOO!" James sang, wagging his eyebrows up and down and looking quite idiotic in the process. "What ever did she want?" he asked, with his eyebrows still in motion.

" Nothing much." He called as he exited the room.

" Aww.. You're no fun. C'mon tell! Did she whisper sweet nothings in your ear and then tell you she was a secret Russian spy and loved your dangerous ways?" James said cheerfully.

" Dork." Sirius made sure to say this loudly enough so James could hear him.

" What can I say, I do try." James called. " So, Lily, you and Sirius make up yet?"

" Yeah, we made up." She said, reaching up to give him a small peck on his cheek. He wrapped his arms around her waist and mumbled something that sounded like good into her shoulder.

" Wow, you smell good, but kind of like a guy." James said a few minutes later.

" Yeah. I, um, borrowed some of Sirius' cologne." She said slowly, pulling back to mess up his hair even more. " Well, its very nice but I do feel a little weird kissing someone that smells like Sirius," He said with a laugh.

" Fine, next time I'll use yours, Ok?" she said, still smiling.

" Sounds good, I guess." James muttered still muffled by her shoulder.

The next morning James had left for quidditch practice leaving his two best friends behind in awkward silence. Sirius walked into the kitchen to find Lily wearing a cute, short, flowy, black skirt topped with a bright green, low cut t-shirt that set off her eyes perfectly.

" Good morning." Sirius said after he started breathing again.

" Says who." Lily responded grumpily. James had once again left a huge mess from his breakfast and she was having difficulty cleaning it up with her wand. Sirius looked over and laughed until he saw Lily glaring at him.

" Here, lemme help." He said, after quickly dropping his smile.

With a flick of his wand everything was clean and put away, leaving Lily more frustrated than ever.

" How come my wand won't work?" she said, exasperatedly.

" Did you get it inspected yet?" Sirius asked.

" Oh, crap!" she moaned.

" C'mon I'll take you." and he grabbed her hand, apperating them both to the inspection office. There he saw an awful sight. In line in front of them was Pamela and he knew one of his secrets was about to be uncovered.

" Sirius!" the girl in front of them cried turning around. Lily stared in awe at a girl wearing a very tight bright red shirt and half of a leather miniskirt.

" Oh… er…hi Pamela," Sirius muttered. Lily could not believe that this was Pamela, she looked so...so easy. The girl glared at Sirius and slapped him across his face.

"You haven't called me in days!" she squealed. "And now I find you out and about with this red haired trollop!"

Lily stared. Pamela Banderton had just called her a trollop. The woman couldn't even control her boobs, for heavens sake!

"Uhm..well..I thought you had a photo shoot, and then filming, and I just lost track of the days. And don't call her a trollop! This is Lily, my best friend's girlfriend."

Pamela sniffed as she looked Lily up and down and flounced off. Sirius shrugged and turned to Lily who was staring at Pamela's retreating back.

"You were dating Pamela BANDERTON?" she roared.

"What, so you're allowed to date other people but I'm not? Talk about double standards."

Lily smirked up at him sarcastically and dragged him off to the wand inspection line. Five minutes later her wand was ready for action once more. She grabbed his hand and they apperated back to their flat.

"Sirius, we need to talk about what happened the other day..."

"Uhhhh... I think we both know what happened, Lillian. You want me."

"I know, but I shouldn't... I mean, I love James."

"Then if you love him, what's to talk about?"

She sighed, gave him a hug and moaned into his shirt.

"I know, you're right. I'm just being silly." She smiled sadly up into his cold gray eyes and walked off to her room. Sirius collapsed onto the worn couch. It had been so hard to tell her to stay with James when he had really wanted to say just the opposite. But he loved James and Lily and could never do anything to hurt them. Or so he hoped. Just then James walked in the door and said the words Sirius had been dreading since he turned eleven.

"I'm gonna ask her to marry me."


	3. Young Love

**A/N: Finally, chapter three is up! Woohoo! Thanks goes out to all my reviewers, especially ****la-bella-vita7** **who made me get off my butt and post this. You make my life complete. Also, I need a Beta, so if you're interested, let me know! Reviews equal love, constructive critisicm equalsmajor love.**

**Disclaimer: Not mine, but if I can't have Sirius, at least Remus can. ;)**

**Warning: SLASH, AHOY! Boy on boy loving, so if you don't like it, leave.**

**For Sarah, who makes me laugh**

**Tension in London**

_"I'm gonna ask her to marry me."_

Sirius turned white. "That's really great, man. Congrats, and." He took off for the bathroom where he leaned over the toilet and saw his lunch for the second time today. James knocked on the door a few minutes later.

"Are you ok, man?"

"Yeah, I just, well, you know how much I eat, must be food poisoning or something. I'll be fine."

"Ok, well call if you need anything."

"Will do." James walked off and Sirius ran into his room and collapsed on his bed. His worst fears were coming true and he couldn't do anything about them without hurting the people he loved the most. James' family had taken Sirius in when his parents had been killed by Voldemort and the two had been inseparable since. And Lily. He could never do anything to put anything other than a smile on her face.

* * *

Sirius moaned and sank further into the worn green couch in front of Lily's TV. He had been walking around the house in a dazed stupor for five days, ever since he had found out about James' imminent proposal to Lily. He sighed and shook himself mentally. What kind of way was this to behave? Was he going to live like this for the rest of his life? No! He straightened up a little as he thought of something he could do to take his mind off the Potter/Evans marriage problem. Maybe he could hang out with James, just like old times! Play quiddich in the backyard, or torture the next-door neighbors dog.

Then he remembered and sank back into the couch. Today was Lily and James' "date night, " a night they set aside for themselves every week to relax and catch up with each other. His sister had a doctor's appointment and Peter was just plain boring. That left... Moony! Sirius whacked himself triumphantly over his head with the pillow he was holding. How could he have forgotten Moony? He sighed at his own stupidity and slid off the couch and over to the kitchen to grab the phone. He speed dialed Moony's

number and listened intently as it rang. One ring, two rings, three. Sirius frowned. What was Remus doing

that could possibly be more important than talking to his bestest pal? Suddenly the ringing stopped and a

very flustered sounding Remus answered the phone. Sirius was overjoyed.

"Hello?"

"Mooooony, it's meeeeee!"

"Oh. Hi, Sirius."

"Hey, whatcha doing? Wanna come over and do something today?"

"Oh, man! I just told my boss I'd go in early today and well..." Remus trailed off.

Sirius howled forlornly into the phone.

"Aooooo. C'mon, Rem! We never hang out anymore!" And then in a quiet little voice, "I miss you."

Utter silence from the other end of the phone, then "OK, I'll be over. Just give me ten minutes to take a shower."

"Yaaaaaay!" Sirius hung up smiling; happy he'd gotten his own way again. He snuggled back down on the couch and waited for Moony to arrive, but, because he was a naturally impatient, squirmy little puppy, he could only wait five minutes before apperating over to Moony's place in the suburbs. He had practiced this so often that he could land, sitting, right in the middle of Remus' huge, black, overstuffed couch, where he snuggled down happily.

"Rem, I'm here, hurry up!"

A couple minutes later, a disheveled, distinctly unshowered Remus came around the corner, scowling at Sirius. His longish blonde hair was mussed on the top of his head, and his large golden-green eyes stared at Sirius sternly.

"I said ten minutes, you lout, and it's been two and a half. Can't you tell time?"

Sirius shrunk back into the couch and melted Remus with his puppydog eyes.

"Look, Siri, I'm sorry, I haven't even gotten a shower yet."

"Well, I don't think you need one; I don't smell anything bad, and I'm a very good smeller."

"You don't? Are you sure? Usually you complain if James takes less than two showers a day and you really don't smell anything? Weird."

"Well maybe that's because I don't like James' smell. but I like..." He trailed off under Remus' golden stare. He gave Sirius a fond look.

"You're crazy."

"Look, Rem, if you want me to go back and wait for you. I will. I shouldn't have come over so soon."

Remus smiled at him tiredly. "Don't bother, you're already here. You know I'd do anything for you, Siri."

He trailed off as Sirius turned his gray eyes on him knowingly.

"How long?" Sirius asked hesitantly.

"Wh..What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean. How long have you felt this way? I'm no idiot, Remus, just a little slow on the uptake." He had gotten up off the couch and was walking towards Remus, backing him up against the wall. A resigned look came across Remus's face as he replied.

"Twelve years, Sirius. Twelve years and I never said anything. Kept it all inside for twelve years because I knew you could never..." He was back against the wall now, Sirius standing right in front of him with an angry look in his eyes.

"Could never, Remy? You could have asked, you ass. It would have made this a lot easier on both of us." And he bent his shaggy black head forward and kissed Remus on his golden, trembling lips, savoring the one moment he thought he could never experience.

Remus felt like he was going to faint from all the emotions swirling in his head. He had been in love with Sirius for years, and knew nothing could come out of it. Eventually he resigned himself just to be his friend, and somehow, just being his friend was good enough. But _this_… He finally knew what made all those girls fall into puddles at Sirius' feet. He was so, so, terribly, bloody _good_. Though, at the age of nineteen, Remus was woefully inexperienced, he knew a good snog when he got one. Just the heat coursing through him from Sirius' mouth was enough to make him curl his toes in delight.

Hours later, curled up together in front of Remus' fireplace, the werewolf pushed Sirius' hair aside and whispered in his ear.

"Move in with me."

Sirius laughed, amazed by the pang in his heart at the shy little whisper and stroked the pale blonde hair off of Remus' forehead.

"I thought you'd never ask."

* * *

Lily stepped out of the shower. She had allowed herself a few extra, precious minutes in which to just let the warm water run down her body and forget all about her recent problems. Wiping the condensation off the mirror, she was able to view the pretty redhead with the bright green eyes she had known all her life. But today, something was different. She was older, not aged, but wiser and it showed on her face. Her once naive eyes sparkled with intelligence that only comes with life experience.

Hearing the doorbell, Lily whipped on a robe and rushed to answer the door, knowing James and Sirius were either sleeping or just oblivious to anything that would involve making her life a little bit easier.

"Hello," she said, throwing open the door and panting slightly from the rush to answer it.

"Oh, uh...Lily," said a red Remus, "Um, is Sirius there?"

"Oh, yeah sure, he might not be up yet, but come on in."

Leaving Remus on the couch, Lily barged into Sirius' room, proceeding to tackle him. It was the only way anyone could even come close to waking him up. Sirius let out a large moan as Lily injected her elbow into his ribcage.

"What..." he groaned, trying to ht Lily with his pillow.

"Remus is in the living room waiting for you, you dope," Lily said with a grin as she stole the pillow from his hands and threw it out the window.

"He's where!" Sirius yelped, waking up suddenly.

"Um, outside on the couch."

"Did you just throw my pillow out the window?" Sirius asked after a long pause.

Lily laughed and walked out of the room. Not bothering to put on clothes, Sirius entered the living room in his usual attire of black silk boxers. This was something everyone was used to, but today Sirius took one step into the living room and immediately turned and returned to his room to throw on jeans before Remus could notice his presence. Feeling slightly hot and embarrassed, Sirius plopped down onto the couch next to Remus, a bit closer than usual.

"So are you going to James' game today?" Remus inquired

"Yeah, he would kill me if I missed another one. Last time I was..." Sirius trailed off.

"With Pamela Anderson," Lily said, a cool look barely hidden in her eyes as she entered the room, causing Sirius and Remus to spring apart.

"Ooh, sorry to scare you guys," Lily smirked, one eyebrow raised as they mumbled about just being surprised, not scared. "Do you want to be alone?" Lily teased, causing them both to turn even redder. "Right, well, i'm going shopping because I know how much lack of food will kill you and James. And it's not like you would even consider nourishing yourself," Lily muttered, oblivious to what she had been witnessing.

"Aww, you know that's why we love you, Lily," Sirius said, composing himself.

"Yeah, yeah," Lily said as she opened the door with one hand, grabbing her purse with the other. "See you, guys."

"Bye, Lily," Remus and Sirius called back in unison, and with that she exited, leaving Remus and Sirius alone for the first time since late last night.

"So," Sirius said, looking over at Remus.

"So," Remus said back.

"Um, about last night."

"Yeah, about that." Remus said, looking Sirius in the eyes for the first time since he walked in. "I've had feelings for you for a long time, but if this is your way of getting over Lily I don't want anything to do with it."

"It's not," Sirius said, looking slightly scared at the thought. "I think I could end up falling more in love with you than I ever could with Lily."

And then; warm breath on Remus cheek, searching lips, a hand in his hair, his stomach was fluttering, and he felt more alive than he ever had in his life.

"Oh, jeez," said a shocked voice. Sirius jumped back as Remus leapt off the couch. James stood in the doorway raking a hand through his messy black hair.

"James!" Sirius yelped. sounding more like a poodle than the big black dog he usually transformed into.

"James." Remus gasped, sounding more shocked than James had looked.

"Um, I really do not know what to say," James muttered, sounding more confused by the second. "How long has this been going on?" He inquired, looking at Remus and Sirius, standing as far apart as they could manage without falling over a couch or hitting a wall.

"It just started last night," Sirius said quietly, looking at his feet.

"And here I thought you were in love with Lily," James said laughing and shaking his head.

"Um, what?" Remus said, looking confused. "You don't care about us, about this?"

James looked amused. "Nah, you two are my best friends. Plus, you're both so...dog-like, I'm sure it will turn out fine. All right, I'll catch you two later, I have to go and train for the game," He said, laughingly as he turned to leave, shutting the door behind him.

Sirius and Remus looked over at each other and gave identical sighs of relief.

Sirius glanced up at the clock for about the 27th time today. Only four hours and twenty-six minutes until the U-haul truck arrived to take all his worldly possessions over to Remus' flat. Rem had demanded that before he move in, he explain to Lily why he was moving out in the first place. he moaned (And mentally told himself that he needed to stop doing that so much ) and looked back up at the clock; he had put this off for long enough. Sliding off his bed, he strode off to Lily's bedroom and knocked on her door.

"Hey, Lil, can I come in?"

"Yeah, grab me the elastic on the doorknob while you're at it."

Obediently he untangled the green elastic from the ornate silver door handle outside her room. Smoothly opening the door, he walked over to where she sat brushing her long red hair and at next to her on the bed. He inhaled the scent of her wafting up from her green silken sheets and smiled at the memories they had shared.

"We need to talk. Got a minute?"

"Of course!" Lily smiled, placing the brush down besides her and sweeping her red hair up into a loose ponytail.

"What's up? " She questioned, settling back into her pillows and turning her bright green eyes onto his stormy gray ones.

He sighed as he looked over at the girl he had once thought he loved. He laughed now at his own childish stupidity. The feelings he had now for Remus blew him out of the water; he had never felt this way before in his life. Remus made him feel alive, made him feel as though his very heart would burst with the pain and joy of loving him.

"Lily, I know we've had some feelings for each other in the past."

Lily looked up sharply.

"Oh, don't deny it, Lily. I know you love James, but I've seen the way you look at me when you think no one else is watching."

Lily chose not to speak, but rather responded by casting her eyes down and fiddling with the brush on her lap. Sirius sighed; he wished she'd say something.

"Look, Lily. I'm here to tell you there can never be anything between us. You belong to Jamie, and I could never hurt him, or you. And as for me, well, I'm in love. So in love, Lily. I've never felt anything this strong, this...earth shattering before. I guess I was attracted to you before because I knew you were the one girl I could never have, and that drove me crazy. And I know how awful that sounds, like I'm cheapening those feelings we has for each other. But I've always cared about you, Lils, I just never realized what true love was until just last night." he stopped, realizing he was rambling, and waited earnestly for her to say something, anything. After a long pause, she finally looked up, tears pooling in her lovely emerald eyes.

"Who is it? Who are you in love with?" As she stared up questioningly into his eyes, she thought she could detect fear swirling in the murky gray depths. Sirius drew in a shaky breath and told her the truth.

"It's Remus, Lily. I guess I've loved him forever. but we've just finally figured it out last night." He laughed curtly. "You'd think we would have figured this out sooner. He asked me to move in with him, Lils, and I'm going to. I'm leaving in a few hours. I figured it would be better this way, in case you weren't...accepting...of us. And you and James need some time alone. Oh, he knows about Remus and I, by the way, he walked in on us while you were shopping."

"You a...and Remus...?" Lily stuttered, eyes open wider than usual. "But how? How could this have happened?" Lily closed her eyes and shook her head, as if trying to shake the thought. She raised her head and he glimpsed the hurt look in her eyes. "I love you," she accused, "I would have given up everything for you." She trailed off; looking back down at the brush she was clutching so hard her knuckles were white.

Sirius' mouth fell open.

"Wait...What? You love me? But, what about James? He loves you, he always has! I can't believe you would hurt him like that, lily, I really can't. You two were always meant to be. I'm sorry Lils, but I can't return those feelings you have for me without lying to you, and myself. I could never love anyone the way I love Remus, and I don't think you only want a little piece of what I have to give." he sighed and shook his head. "I really thought you'd understand; well, I hoped you would, anyway.

Lily turned red. She finally realized Sirius needed her as a friend now more than ever, and she was pushing him away. Shoving down the words she really wanted to say, she closed her eyes tight, opened them, looked at the ceiling and sighed.

"I...I do understand, and if this is how you feel, I'm...I'm happy for you."

He looked shocked. "Really? I can tell you don't mean it, but it means a lot to me that you support us. I'm sorry things didn't work out between us, Lily, but this relationship was cursed from the moment James laid eyes on you in our first year." He smiled sadly at her and planted a small kiss on the top of her red head. "But your friendship means more to me than I could ever say."

Lily choked down tears and offered him a small smile. "Do you need help packing up the rest of your things? Because knowing you, you've saved it all to do until the last minute." She slowly crawled off the bed towards him, trying to stop her hands from shaking, and the tears from pouring down her face.

Sirius enveloped her in a brotherly hug and carried her piggyback over to his room. "You know me so well, I haven't even packed anything yet, it all seems like a happy dream that I'm going to wake up from any second." He grinned over at her. "Lily, promise you'll come visit us sometimes?" The little puppy whine was obvious in his voice as he waited for her reply.

"Of course! I always thought Remus' flat needed a feminine touch, and now I'll have a reason to add some."

Sirius smiled at her, glad both of his friends were so understanding

**A/N: No, this is not the end, people! Read and review, please. Reviewers get chocolate chip cookies and puppykisses!**


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